Locked in Time

I'm not a huge fan of fantasy, and let me warn you: there is a little fantasy in this book and if you don't like fantasy, I don't think you should read this. It's about a girl named Eleanor (Nore) who goes to live with her stepmother in Louisiana. She knows there is something strange about them. First of all, her stepsister Josie says that she remembers experiencing something that happened way before her time. Also, her stepmother Lisette acts odd sometimes, being unkind and too cautious. She gives her children an anisette which seems make them drowsy. Anyway, Nore knows something is wrong and she goes to investigate it. She goes on a drive with her stepbrother, Gabe, and finds out that he can be dangerous when he's driving and he almost ran them into a huge oak tree. Nore finds an old building on their estate with some papers, photographs, and books in it and it is then when she finds out her stepfamily's strange secret and she knows that she must get out of there at once! Sound interesting? I thought it was and gave it 5 out of 5 stars, even for the fantasy part.

This novel has you hooked from the first chapter, it is very interesting and has great suspense! It is about a girl named Nore. After her mother dies, Nore goes to live with her father and his new family at a mysterious place. Nore gets twisted into a scary world of trouble as she learns new things that will help her solve the mystery of her new family and their home. It has very interesting scenes that will make you stay up late to find out what happens next, it's a wonderful book.

Ms. Duncan has written a marvelous tale that would be utterly terrifying were it not written in first person (you always know that the narrator will survive taking away some of the suspense). Nore (short for Eleanor) has just returned from boarding school for summer vacation. While she was away her father re-married (why wouldn't a father invite his only daughter to his wedding?)and Nore is going to spend the summer with her father and his new family in an old Louisiana estate. Her new stepmother, Lisette Berge appears very beautiful but very stern, demanding of privacy and wanting to live in the estate isolated with no phone service. She has a teenage son Gabe about Nore's age and a daughter Josie of about 13. Immediately their behavior is very strange. Such as Lisette's reaction to an old woman that knew a Lisette Berge 20 years earlier and that looked exactly the same. Lisette claims it was her mother and runs off away from the woman. Then Josie and Gabe start talking about things that happened to them many years earlier, which would have been impossible considering they are only teenagers. Additionally, Josie starts talking about never physically changing and about not getting too close to anyone because they die and leave you and that this has happened to her many times. Then she talks about a brother who died many years ago but Nore finds a family photo with the brother in it and Lisette, Gabe, and Nore look exactly the same. Additionally, there is an old man in the photo who looks exactly like a portrait that was painted about 60 years earlier that is hanging in the house! Also, Nore keeps over hearing Lisette talking about a pact she has made and Josie and Gabe are upset that they weren't asked about it first. The author keeps pointing out that many of the Cajuns are into witchcraft and voodoo so the reader can get a clue as to what the pact was about. Things come to a head when Gabe tries to first cause a car accident and then tries to drown Nore in the river. It all builds up to a big climax that Ms. Duncan is very good at. Ms. Duncan has done it again by writing a book that is both interesting to teens and adults alike.

I read this book in the sixth grade, and usually I don't finish books for about a week or longer, but I couldn't put Locked In Time down!!! There was never a dull moment in this book, and the suspense was heavy right up to the last page. Locked In Time is about a girl who's dad is getting remarried to a woman named Lisette. She has two kids, Josie and Gabe. Nore starts getting suspicious about the two of them when Josie is talking about a fire at a circus Josie claimed she went to just a few years ago, but Nore knows it isn't true because her mom said that happened when she was a small child. I recommend this book to people who love mysteries!!! You won't be able to put this book down!!!

I first started reading Lois Duncan as teen back in the late eighties and early nineties. I read every one I could get my hands on,whether it be at the library or bookstore.Locked In Time,however,is my favorite. As a teen I read this book at least six or seven times,yes I liked it that much. A couple of weeks ago,while searching for some books to buy for my teenage sister-in-law,I came across Locked In Time and decided to get it. The package arrived and there it was calling my name. So,I took it out and read it again. The storytelling and the magic it weaves is still fantastic,even now after all of these years.I kept that copy,bought my sister-in-law another,and put mine right where it belongs,on my bookshelf next to the Mary Higgins Clark and Sue Grafton novels and all of my other "adult" novels. It's there,ready to be enjoyed again. As i said,It's THAT good.